


The World Keeps Turning (Even Without You)

by loeb55



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Multi, bokuroo is the main ship, character death only bc they reincarnate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-16
Updated: 2020-01-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:35:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22040428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loeb55/pseuds/loeb55
Summary: The gods favoured those strongly bonded, and Koutarou and Tetsurou loved each other like no one had ever done before.When Koutarou dies, he is reborn, and eventually he remembers that he had lived before. He remembers Tetsurou.But he does not see Tetsurou in this second lifetime, nor the one after, but he searches for him in every single one after that-maybe the gods do not favour them, after all.
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Tsukishima Kei, Bokuto Koutarou/Kuroo Tetsurou, Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio, Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi
Comments: 17
Kudos: 58





	The World Keeps Turning (Even Without You)

He wanders into the dreams of an old woman tonight. She knows that her end is coming soon, and all she has been asking lately is for a peaceful death-asleep and thinking of her loved one who left her too long ago.

Kuroo can give her that.

His voice turns slow, not high but not deep either, with a slight crackle to it; the voice of her wife drifting from his mouth across the expanse of her dream. It's impossible for him to take on the shape of the loved ones, but he would if he could-anything to comfort the people he has to lead to their death. But the voice is often enough. Usually in those liminal moments, the soon-to-be-departed would see the owners of the voices anyway.

"Hitoka? I'm here for you-I'm here," he whispers gently.

"Shimizu, I knew you'd come. Here to lead me away, my love?" Kuroo smiles when he hears her. Using others voices for so long have made him so aware of tone, of the subtle emotions that drift in a person's tune. Hers is of a happy acceptance. No regret, no longing for the life she is leaving behind.

"Mhm, I am. How have the kids been?" He holds his hand out, knowing he'll either be a shape devoid of colour, or a phantom image of Shimizu, to help her on the journey. Hitoka takes it and they begin to walk. The journey is always short, and he fills it mostly with mindless chatter, after all, Hitoka will meet the real Shimizu soon (he thinks) and he wants them to reminisce together.

Soon they leave her dream, and Hitoka fades, Shimizu's voice an echo in the distance. And Kuroo wanders, waiting for the next person he has to lead.

///

In this lifetime, he plays volleyball. It sticks with him from childhood to his old age, when he can no longer play but coaches instead. He remembers his previous lifetimes after a summer training camp with two other schools called Nekoma and Karasuno, his own being Fukurodani.

Laying on the grass outside after a particularly tiring practice match, he chuckles and says to Akaashi,

"Man, Tetsurou would love volleyball!" Bokuto instantly sits up, eyes wide, almost manic, and he ignores Akaashi's confused glance because _Tetsurou_. There have been too many lifetimes for him to count, but he remembers how every single one apart from the very first were characterised by a desperate search. Tetsurou has been missing ever since he can remember.

"I... I need to find him."

"Who?" Akaashi raises an eyebrow, obviously confused. 

"Kuroo Tetsurou. He... he was a childhood friend, but he moved away a long time ago. He uhm-meant a lot to me." The other stands up, wiping off his hands before holding one out; a silent gesture telling Bokuto he'll help.

For the rest of the games he's unfocused, his thoughts consumed by Tetsurou. He can imagine him on the other side of the net-they were so competitive with each other-maybe a setter, or middle blocker. Both good positions for someone so devious. After that, a shadow of the man lingers on the court, always there to block and receive Bokuto's spikes with a grin on his face. _(Loser cleans by himself for a week.)_

It's always like this when he remembers. Like he's lost a limb, or like there's a hole in his chest that won't stop growing. Like he's suddenly alone in the world despite being surrounded by friends that he truly loves. Is it the same for Tetsurou?

Akaashi and Bokuto take to the internet after the summer camp is over, most teens have some form of social media, but after searching every variation of 'Kuroo Tetsurou', they come up with nothing. He's either invisible, or non-existent. Maybe he didn't reincarnate like Bokuto did; maybe Tetsurou has never reincarnated, like some cruel twist of fate banishing Bokuto to a perpetual solitude. 

"Thanks, Akaashi… If we're meant to see each other again, we will!" He masks the disappointment with over-excitement, but his setter sees through it. Bokuto's emotions will always be worn on his sleeve, even if he tries hard to cover them. Akaashi can tell there's more to it.

Bokuto doesn't meet Tetsurou in this life, and like in every other he cannot fill the gap that missing him creates. But it's a good life.

He goes pro, playing for Japan at the Olympics alongside former friends and enemies (and can't help but smile seeing Kageyama and Hinata play alongside him, who he thinks would be destined to play volleyball in every single lifetime if they reincarnated like himself). He sees his friends fall in love and do what they always dreamed of-Akaashi and Tsukishima surprisingly get together, but he remembers how they gravitated towards each other at the training camps, and how Tsukishima willingly kept in contact with Akaashi even after the highschool years ended. They become his closest friends, with Tsukishima softening over the years and relaxing into his music career, whilst Akaashi became a model. That surprised everyone most of all, but he was more than beautiful enough. And at least one of them would make it to all his games to support him.

It was a good life.

He passes away in a hospitable bed, meeting his natural end, and he's welcomed into the death dream by two grim reapers he now knows as Koushi and Daichi.

"Find him this time, Koutarou?" He shakes his head, visibly deflating. Tsukishima and Akaashi had continued to search for him, but they could never find him.

"Oh, Koutarou… You'll find him soon. I can feel it." Daichi spoke this time, reassuring in that way he has always been since Bokuto first met him. They haven't always been his reapers, but they accompany him more often than not, and the fifth time they appeared, he couldn't help but ask why there were two-every other time, there had only been one reaper.

_"Well... we were a bit like you and Kuroo."_

_"Really!! You reincarnated?" They both shake their heads, and Koushi talks._

_"We never reincarnated, but we never wanted to be apart. Our families were both farmers, and we worked together even as kids. Playing more than working, really. And even as we grew up, we never separated. Always staying on the farms, as everyone did back then, and helping each other out when the yield was low. It felt unnatural being apart, like something was missing._

_One year, we decided that we'd ask the gods if we could stay together for eternity. We made food, and took it to our shrine, offering it to the gods as we prayed. We asked if we could remain together even in death._

_Years later, we died at the same time, and we knew that the gods had heard and gifted us what we had requested when we were so young. Then we woke up, and we knew what we were meant to do-lead the dead to the other side. And we've been doing it ever since._

_Now tell us about what it was like this time?"_

_"Okay, so..."_

They talk for a while about this lifetime, the journey much longer than it's supposed to be, but Bokuto assumes that the gods have allowed them to spend this time with each other. He frowns as he finishes, thinking about how he's gonna miss all his friends from this lifetime in his next.

That's another one of the things about reincarnating-he'll never be able to spend his afterlife with people who matter to him. They'll never be able to spend their afterlife with him.

Koushi and Daichi hug him as he fades, and he waits to be born again. 

///

Kuroo's voice is stern this time, fondness hidden by annoyance as he says the name 'Shouyou'. The small, orange-haired guy jumps up, already crying from the voice.

"Tobio. Tobio, what's happening? I don't understand. How-how are you..?"

Kuroo holds his hand out, and Shouyou sees Tobio's. Too large hands and fingers that would be elegant if it weren't for the calluses and rough skin from all the years of volleyball. The smaller takes it into his hands, gripping tight enough to hurt.

"I'm dead, aren't I, Tobio?"

"You are, Shouyou."

Tobio had died too early, Kuroo remembers leading him over and talking in the voice of his mother. Remembers telling him that it'll be okay, he'll be reunited with Shouyou eventually.

This journey isn't accompanied by much conversation, Shouyou taking the time to calm down. When they get to the end, Kuroo whispers,

 _"I'll be waiting for you on the other side."_ And Shouyou fades as he nods, determined.

Kuroo has never faded, so he doesn't know what is on the other side. He doesn't know if loved ones can ever find each other, he doesn't know if they are separated into a heaven and hell. But he knows the gods favour people so strongly bonded, and that their existences will always be intertwined in life and death.

He thinks he had that at one point. But his life alive was so long ago it's mostly a blur. There was a boy with black hair that always stuck up in the weirdest of ways, much like his own, who became a man beside him. His existence is smudged ink in his memory, the real meaning impossible to see underneath the swipe of black. Yet, he remembers love. They loved each other, they died together, then Kuroo became a reaper, and they haven't been together ever since.

///

This lifetime is a bit different, in that he meets Akaashi again. He's never met someone from a previous life, no one else has ever reincarnated, not that he knows. Akaashi doesn't seem to remember him, but there's almost a flash of recognition when they first meet as children.

Bokuto was a Tokyo-kid, but his family moved to the countryside when he was only young, and on his first day of his new school, he saw the younger digging holes in the grass with a stick. An almost bored expression was on his face as he did, like he was waiting for something to crawl out, but instead the mud pile just kept getting bigger.

Happily skipping over, he goes to introduce himself, and then... the child turns his head and it's _Akaashi._ It's Akaashi and _he remembers it all._ Has he ever remembered this young before?

He decides to play volleyball again.

Volleyball has become home for him, he thinks. Something to be a constant in this cycle of reincarnation. The ball is smooth under his hands, new but so familiar, and the sting when he spikes is as thrilling and reassuring as the very first time. 

He doesn't go pro this time; Akaashi doesn't become a model. They lead simpler lives. 

It's strange seeing Akaashi without Tsukishima, and he wonders if only the former reincarnated, or if they simply haven't met Tsukishima yet. What if Tsukishima had reincarnated and he remembered? What if he's looking for them?

What if this is a sign that he'll meet Tetsurou once again?

///

The next person Kuroo meets is a strange one. His voice changes as the man opens his eyes, but then this man-Akaashi Keiji-stares at him and says,

"You're not Kei."

No one else has done this before, no one else has been able to _see_ him, and the only way to know he isn't Kei is if Akaashi can see more than the colourless form everyone else has witnessed.

"No, I'm not." Kuroo gulps, unsure of how the other will react. Akaashi continues to stare, piercing but nothing malicious behind it, just confusion.

"Who are you, then?"

"I'm a reaper, here to lead you to the other side. The voices... they usually comfort people-I'm sorry." The soul finally looks away, gazing at the ceiling in his dreams, pondering.

"Say, reaper... does reincarnation exist? I met someone when I was a child and I know I've known him before, and I'm pretty sure he recognised me too."

And Kuroo has to stop himself from gasping because-because _Koutarou._ It's a name that has escaped him for so long, hidden in the shadows of his memory that have worked so hard to preserve the image of the other, but he finally remembers. He doesn't know how he knows, but the man Akaashi knows is his Koutarou. 

That means Koutarou has been _alive_ all this time, reincarnating endlessly, without Tetsurou. Now, it seems people important to Bokuto are reincarnating too. 

"It does. The gods favour people bonded so strongly." Akaashi hums before making his reply, 

"well, let's hope Kei reincarnated too next time. I'll have to tell Bokuto that I know." He smiles like he knows, and he fades without Kuroo even having to do anything. If Kuroo didn't know any better, he'd say that Akaashi was a little bit of a god. Not omniscient, not omnipotent, but as close as a mortal could be.

///

Bokuto thinks the heavens must be preparing for something big. Like there is some predetermined event and he was always meant to be a player-all he had to do was wait until the others arrived. Because Akaashi is here again.

They're children, again, and they meet on a train. When their parents aren't looking, Akaashi mouths 'Bokuto' in his direction and that's all it takes to remember, and to realise that his friend across lifetimes knows too. Bokuto gets off at the next stop, Akaashi doesn't, but they smile determined, knowing they'll meet again sooner or later. 

Bokuto thinks the heavens must be preparing for something big: he's player one, Akaashi player two, and Tsukishima player three. Tsukishima has to be three because this time, he is here too. He skipped a lifetime, but he's here now.

At university, they all reunite. Bokuto leaves the door to his room open on the first day of fresher's week, letting the other people on his floor wander in so they can get to know each other. There's around 8 people on the floor including himself, and the last two to introduce themselves are Tsukishima and Akaashi.

Walking from opposite ends of the hallway, they only notice each other as they're in front of Bokuto's door, and then they notice Bokuto, and he notices the two at the same time. He can't contain himself, Akaashi already knows, and judging by Tsukishima's mouth hanging open, he knows too. So he jumps up and _launches_ himself at the two. They end up in a dogpile on the floor, the eldest squeezing the two so hard they can barely breathe. Tsukishima, having reincarnated for the very first time, is the most shocked, but he still manages to whisper,

"It's good to see you, too." And he definitely does _not_ cry.

The others from their floor stare at them until Akaashi pushes himself up and calmly tells them that they're childhood friends who had lost contact, making them think that they're not just very, very strange. Bokuto pulls him into his room at the end of the explanation, shutting the door and practically screaming,

"I have so much to tell you!"

"Start with who Kuroo Tetsurou is?" Akaashi asks tentatively, remembering the lifetime before last when the three spent decades searching for the man.

"He's the reason why I keep reincarnating, I think." And the eldest is uncharacteristically quiet, "we were together centuries ago, and I can't describe the bond we had. Like-like we were just always meant to be _connected_. I remember when we first met... it felt like the world had been shifted back onto the right path, and I just hadn't realised it was wrong before until I saw him. I asked if we would always be together, and he said that even if the gods separated us, he would make his way back to me, and then I said I'd do the same. So I think I keep reincarnating because we're still making our way back to each other."

"You will, one day." Akaashi smiles, "after all, the god's favour people bonded so strongly."

 _"And I think you have the strongest bond of all,"_ goes unspoken, sitting heavy in the air like a wordless promise.

They spend the rest of the week together, Bokuto telling them all about his past lives, something he's only even been able to talk to Koushi and Daichi about, and then telling them about his two favourite reapers (and then more about Tetsurou). They talk about what they're studying, their aspirations, and laugh at how different it is from the first life they spent together: Tsukishima goes from producer to archaeologist; Akaashi model to teacher; Bokuto professional volleyball player to illustrator. 

He's had many lifetimes to think about the strangeness of reincarnation, and this change is one he has thought of many times before. Because he has had many goals, many careers, many dreams, and in some lives they are the same, but in many he isn't bothered by things he has wanted before, or things he ended up wanting in a future life. Yet, he never feels like he isn't Bokuto Koutarou. No matter what changes, he is always himself, and he doesn't know what makes him _him-_ what the essence of his very being is-but he knows that throughout his centuries of living, through all the change he's experienced and the changes in himself, that he hasn't changed all that much at all.

It's a comfort to him, because it means Tetsurou is probably the same too. 

///

"So we meet again, reaper." Akaashi is smiling in _that_ way again, like he knows things that Kuroo does not. 

"Mhm. Did you get to meet Kei?" And the smile that follows is completely different from the ones he has usually see from the other man; it's content, pure happiness-it's love.

"I did." He starts walking, prompting Kuroo to follow, who's thinking again that this man must be some sort of a god because what sort of mortal does this? Knows too much about life and death and leads the reaper instead of following. 

"Do you want me to tell him?" Akaashi looks back, the all-knowing smile returning, "Bokuto, I mean."

The reaper stops.

He doesn't know what to do.

"Take as long as you need to, the world can wait." The not-god sits down, the expanse of white filling in with the colours of a home: furniture gradually comes into existence, and the sun rises outside a window giving the room a pink and gold hue. Kuroo guesses it was Akaashi's favourite place to be as he looks out at the imaginary sky, thinking about Bokuto.

It's impossible for him to leave this space, this place where he leads people from life to death, and Bokuto ever getting him as his reaper would have to be pure luck. He knows there are hundreds of reapers, so it could take hundreds of deaths before they can meet. But, if Akaashi doesn't tell him, then for every lifetime they are apart, Bokuto may begin to doubt their bond, keep searching for him endlessly with no results, hurting every single time it ends in failure. 

Both situations seem hopeless. But... if his soulmate knows the truth then at least he knows Kuroo is alive, that there will always be a chance of them meeting, no matter how slim.

Night has settled into the sky when he has stopped thinking. He turns to Akaashi. 

"Tell him for me. I... I want him to know that I'm here, that we can be together again one day."

Akaashi nods, speaks softly, "I will, I'm glad you decided to tell him. You know, I think it won't be too long now until you can see each other."

"I'll take your word for it."

Just like last time, Akaashi fades all of his own accord, and with him, the room disappears. Like always, Kuroo waits for the next person to arrive, but now he has hope. Something he hasn't felt for a long, long time.

///

Akaashi is not the first one he meets this time, nor is it Tsukishima. Surprisingly, it’s Hinata and Kageyama; unsurprisingly, they’ve reincarnated together, not separated for even a single lifetime.

Bokuto is a child again, and he picks up volleyball (again) after seeing a match online. There are no memories yet, but he’s already certain he’s going to love volleyball, so enthusiastic that his parents take him to the local volleyball club where anyone can play, no matter the age. 

On his first visit, he sees two children a couple years younger than himself: one absolutely _miniscule_ with bright orange hair curling around his cheeks; the other already tall for his age and short black hair just brushing his forehead. They’re having some sort of competition, Bokuto’s not sure what it’s about, but none of it matters when the short one shouts a frustrated, “Kageyama!”

Players 4 and 5 are here. 

At first he worries they will have no recollection of their past life, of Bokuto, but as soon as they turn around, a ball of orange is rushing at him screaming, and Kageyama does that wriggly grin he always does when he’s excited, like his mouth doesn’t quite know whether to smile or frown or hang open. His juniors are still endearing, it seems. 

They play volleyball in the town club every week with each other, getting quite the name for themselves as child prodigies, and then they play together nearly every day when the two younger join the same school as Bokuto and they’re put in the starting line-up despite being first-years. 

The three become essentially famous among school volleyball, helping their team make Nationals with ease, and this is where all the players unite for the first time. 

It’s the final match, three are on one side of the net, two are on the other. Even though they may be on the same metaphorical team, they play against each other with as much desire to win as they always do. 

After the match is finished, the players from both sides walk up to the net to shake hands. Tsukishima and Hinata are middle-blockers, just like before, complete opposites but perfectly complementary, so they meet at the net. 

The tallest says, “just as short as the first time, huh?” But it lacks any of the malice from their very first meeting. Here they all understand that it’s a greeting to a friend who has been gone for far too long, a rekindling of an old relationship with the reassurance that nothing has changed. 

Hinata smiles wide and replies, “they’re gonna be calling me the little giant again this time, just you wait.” 

No one doubts it. 

They share numbers, make a group chat, and leave the gymnasium with their souls thrumming-they’re not complete yet, they can all tell, but they will be. Only one player is left. 

Akaashi texts Bokuto, tells him they need to meet, just the two of them. A couple of weeks later, they’re in a café, and Bokuto finds out where Kuroo is. At that moment, the two are connected like they haven’t been since they were together, linked by the hope they have for their reunion.

It’s late before the two part ways-living on opposite ends of the country means they can’t see each other often-and the elder can’t help but fall asleep on the train ride. In his dreams, he relives his very first life, the only one he has been able to spend with Kuroo, and it’s so vivid it feels almost like he went back in time.

When Bokuto talks about the life he had with Kuroo, he never really mentions what life was actually like for the pair, focusing only on what they felt when they were together. Things had been difficult for the both of them, life didn’t treat them well. 

Their life started in a rural village where everyone knew each other because they all relied on every member of the community to live. Traders rarely passed by, so they had to make do with what they had, or in times of desperation, send people off on the week long journey to the closest trading town. Even when there were disputes, when people grew to hate each other, they trusted everyone with their lives. 

Famines were common, as was illness and disease, but Bokuto still misses those days. Misses the bond in the village, misses the market days where he helped his parents exchange bread for milk or the clothes he outgrew for clothes he would grow into, misses watching Tetsurou herd sheep as he fixed the Kuroo family’s door frame.

(The Kuroo’s were the village sheep-farmers; the Bokuto’s were the village carpenters.)

He remembers the days where he had nothing to fix, so he’d take a knife and some wood to Tetsurou’s, carving a new creation as he sat in the field waiting for the other to finish. He remembers laying down in those very fields, holding Tetsurou’s hand as he gazed at the sky, thinking about how the one he loved was just as endless as the stars. 

His parents died when he was young, taken by a sickness. He remembers taking care of them, burying them, how quiet the house felt, how lonely it was to be the man of a house that didn’t need someone to be the man of because there was no one to look after. He wishes he didn’t remember that (he wishes he didn’t remember any of his parents, he has seen too many pass away, been to too many funerals, cared so much for so many people that it never stops hurting). When they died, he remembers thinking that the Bokuto line ends with him and wondering which family will become the new village carpenters when he passes.

Tetsurou’s parents lived for a long time. Which was frustrating, to say the least. They weren’t the worst of parents, but they were a far cry from good. The Kuroo family were one of those who the village hated, but still trusted with their life as the villagers did, for many reasons. Cold, abrasive, always difficult to trade with. Cruel to their son, who did most of the hard work and received very little for it. Even crueller when they realised that he and the Bokuto boy were serious about one another.

Times were different then, those centuries ago. Being in love with another man wasn’t really an issue, however Tetsurou was an only son, and like Koutarou, he refused to make a family for the sake of continuing the bloodline. The Kuroo’s ended with Tetsurou, just like the Bokuto’s ended with Koutarou. Continuing the family was the most important thing then, and often women who loved women would form families with men who loved men to fulfil this. They would understand each other so well, and would love each other deeply, just not romantically, and the families they created were still whole. 

It was an interesting choice from the pair, but the village at large didn’t care, nor did Koutarou’s parents. Tetsurou’s parents were the only ones to judge.

He remembers every single day as if it were only yesterday, pain and sorrow as well as joy and peace. Sometimes, he wishes he didn’t, because it makes all the days without Tetsurou hurt even more.

The train announcing his stop interrupts his dream, and he shakes himself awake. Too long has been spent dwelling on the past (centuries have been spent) because the past is all he had. Soon, though, soon he will have a new present to think about, a future to consider. A future that he had started to give up on. 

Hinata meets him at the train station, launching himself at his senior for a hug as if they’d been separated for weeks rather than only a day, but the younger is one of the most affectionate people he’s ever met. He spins around with him, both laughing too loud for the late hour and attracting disgruntled looks. 

“How was Akaashi?” Hinata asks, still clinging to his neck. 

“Great! He’s been accepted into the university he wanted in-”

“The same one you’re going to?!”

“Yep! Imagine me and Akaashi at the same university again, just like the last lifetime.” Bokuto sighs almost dreamily. He’d gotten used to spending most of his lives with Akaashi, always meeting him first out of everyone, so it feels weird to be so far away from him. 

“Is he gonna join the volleyball team? Are you gonna be on the same team?” Hinata’s volume is still too loud, even louder since his thoughts moved to volleyball, and his eyes shine like they always do when the younger talks about the sport. 

Bokuto has had many dreams and careers throughout his lifetimes, and he’s accepted the constantly changing aspirations as normal, but every time Hinata so much as mentions volleyball, the older knows that this is it for him. Both Hinata and Kageyama, really. Volleyball will always be their entire life, no matter how many times they are born again. 

“We might be, but it has a _lot_ of teams. We’ll practice together at least, but we might never play together.” He pouts now, seriously hoping they will be able to play together when Akaashi joins the university next year.

It was so strange playing against him at nationals, fun, but unnatural in a way. 

One day, they’ll all play volleyball on the same team, but not yet. Not in this lifetime.

He’s been thinking about these recent lifetimes as a game, designating them all positions (himself player one, Akaashi player two, Tsukishima three, Hinata four, Kageyama five), and it must be fate. Because in the lifetime he first met Akaashi, it was through volleyball. In the next life, he decided volleyball would be a constant for him. In the life after that, the game metaphor began. 

It must be fate because indoor volleyball requires at least six players on a team, and now he’s just waiting for his sixth player.

Fate is cruel. It’s made him wait so long to see Tetsurou, but fate is always fulfilled. His, and the others’, fates are seemingly intertwined with volleyball. It’s not what he ever expected, the first time he reincarnated-that his destiny would be a sport, of all things-but he’s not disappointed. Fate is cruel, but it’s kind too. 

He and Hinata separate, returning to their homes. Bokuto moves through his house with care, feet light as he moves up the steps and avoids all the creaks like second-nature even in the pitch-black. He prays that night, knelt by the edge of his bed and eyes closed, thanking the gods for the friends he has made and hoping that he will be reunited with his love soon. 

Akaashi does end up on the same team as him a few months into the year. It feels good to have his setter back. 

Kageyama and Hinata go to different universities, both on sports scholarships, and Bokuto is almost distraught that the two are separated, even playing volleyball against each other. Before the youngest three of their five leave, they decide to meet up again. The two eldest live together now as Akaashi moved to Bokuto’s hometown and he decided he didn’t want to live with his parents anymore. Hinata and Kageyama have yet to move to their new cities, so it’s the best time to meet really, before it becomes too difficult. Only Tsukishima has to travel, but he was planning to stay the week with Hinata anyway, as they’ll be going to the same university. 

Those two have developed a strangely close relationship over the decades, Bokuto has noticed. They compete in a way completely different to the way Kageyama and Hinata compete. The soulmates compete in everything they do, like they live to win to improve the other, whilst Tsukishima and Hinata compete simply because they’re absolute opposites yet still have the same goal.

It’s endearing watching them bicker as though they hate each other, when they all know their mutual animosity ended within the first year of the Karasuno volleyball team. 

They arrive at the two eldest's’ place last, Tsukishima’s train arriving quite late, seeing Kageyama tucked into the corner of the single sofa and the other two sprawled across pillows on the floor. The tallest is dragged to the sofa as well, pushed into the other corner by Hinata who throws himself into the middle, stretching out over the other two. 

A movie is put on, but it becomes background noise as they talk all the way through it, mostly about university. The credits are coming to an end when Bokuto asks,

“Say Hinata, Kageyama… if you’d gotten into the same uni, would you still have chosen the ones you did now?” 

Kageyama stops playing with Hinata’s hair, a subconscious habit he’s developed, and frowns in the way they know now means he’s concentrating. Hinata, annoyed that he stopped, flicks the younger’s wrist to get him to start again, as he answers, 

“I wanted to experience being proper rivals at least once. Playing against each other to the very end. It’ll be fun!” His boyfriend’s frown disappears and he nods once, agreeing.

Conversation is light after that, nonsense ramblings until they fall asleep. 

A week later, university starts, and the five are split into three different cities. Seeing each other is difficult over the next few years, but they’ve known each other for so long that every time they see each other again it’s like no time has passed at all. Comfort and ease is what they will always have, no matter what happens. 

Out of them all, Hinata and Kageyama are the only ones who go pro (as they always will), and the other three are just glad that the gods seem to erase their existence from the world’s memory, making it possible for them to chase their dream every single lifetime.

Life occurs this time with a sense of security and certainty that it’s all coming to a close. Like these past centuries have just been a long, long cycle and Bokuto’s finally reaching the beginning again.

Death stops being so scary when it’s happened so many times, and now that he has people waiting for him when he reincarnates, it’s a little bit less sad too. It will never _not_ be sad, because he is always leaving people behind, but he’s started to look forward to the next life, instead of dreading spending more years searching for someone that cannot be found.

///

He wonders how Koutarou reacted. Time works differently in this in-between, but Kuroo knows it’s been long enough for him to find out. 

Was he angry? Sad? Happy? He hopes he was happy, because he’d hate to have made his Koutarou sad.

Although he accepts the truth that he already has, because they have been separated for centuries and it’s not him who has been searching pointlessly. Suddenly, he’s cut from his thoughts when he’s alerted that someone is arriving, and he prepares himself to look into their life so he can choose a voice. But.

But he doesn’t need to take on a voice this time.

“Koutarou?” His knees hit the floor, hands hanging limply at his side. It's Koutarou, it's him, it's _his_ Koutarou. 

Tears slip down his cheeks like all the pain of missing him these past centuries rushes into him all at once. A pain that's only eased when Koutarou wraps his arms around him so tight that he can't doubt this is real. 

"Tetsurou-" he hiccups, "it's you, it's really you." The words are strangled around the sobs, but he keeps talking, doesn't let go even though it's hard to breathe. 

"I-I spent so long looking for you, Tetsu. But you. You've been here the entire time." Koutarou hugs him even tighter, and Tetsurou finally has the control to lift his own arms up and grip the other too. 

"I missed you." They say it at the same time, heads buried into the crooks of each other's necks. 

So much time has passed and there is so much to say, but they don't speak another word. They already know the important things, and to talk they do not need to speak. The embrace they refuse to end is enough; the tears are enough; the exhale of each other's name is enough. Everything else can wait, but this for now is all they need. 

Koutarou starts to fade. Tetsurou kisses his forehead,

"I'll find you in the next lifetime. I promise." 

"Not if I find you first." And he's gone.

The reaper doesn’t get up, the scenery is gone now that Koutarou’s soul has left, so he is simply submerged in the usual expanse of white. He stares at his hands, tracing across his lifelines like they’ll give him the answers he wants. But the only one here is himself, and he is the only one who can tell him what to do. 

“I’ll find you, Koutarou. I will.” Eyes closed, he exhales loud and slow, telling himself that he just has to fade.

///

It’s Akaashi that he meets first this time, but it doesn’t follow the trend of the past few lifetimes in that he’s in his late teens before they first see each other. Both make it to Nationals but meet only in passing, their teams not playing against each other. They smile at each other from across the hallway before their teams move in opposite directions and they walk away with them. 

The smile said  _ we’ll meet next year.  _

Nationals come again, and Bokuto bumps into the three youngest too, who are seemingly all on different teams but had met before any of the matches started. Apparently, it was in front of the toilets, according to Hinata’s indignant whining about public toilets being cursed before he started complaining that the other two were definitely taller than they were the last lifetimes. 

His first match is against Akaashi’s team, which is bitter-sweet, and he plays against Kageyama too, but not Tsukishima or Hinata, and it’s his team who makes it to the final match. The other team apparently hasn’t been to Nationals for years, and they couldn’t find any clips of them to start forming tactics. They couldn’t even watch their matches because they always played at the same time, so the most they could do was have one of their team managers watch them when they could and report back to their coach. 

They’d never been so unprepared for a match before, but Bokuto doesn’t mind. It just makes it that much more exciting. 

His team moves onto the court first, the commentator reading out their names and positions, with Bokuto raising both his fists and grinning as his is read out. The vice captain shoves him lightly, chuckling but telling him to stop showing off. 

He’s rubbing his side pouting when the other team walks onto the court, and as he looks up, the commentator is speaking again.

“Team captain and middle blocker who’s led his school to Nationals for the first time in eight years-Kuroo Tetsurou!” Bokuto can’t help the way his mouth hangs open. But at least he’s not crying which was a _very_ likely possibility. And Kuroo Tetsurou simply saunters to the edge of the court, stands opposite Bokuto, and mouths,

“Found you.” 

Player 6 is here, and Bokuto smiles.

Let the games begin. 

///

_ Kuroo and Bokuto join the same university, unable to bear being apart for any longer. The others spread out, most of them separated, but they came together at the end of university.  _

_ Hinata and Kageyama were the first to become professional volleyball players, and Kuroo was astounded in a way the others never were anymore. He’d met both Kageyama and Hinata briefly as their reaper, but really he knew so little about them, and every terrifyingly fast set left him in awe. The rest soon followed, applying to the same team on purpose because all the players were finally together, but had yet to actually play. _

_ Everyone was accepted, and after a year or so, advanced into the main team. Kuroo became captain and stayed as middle blocker, with Akaashi as his vice, who could actually play as both a setter and wing spiker-one of their key tactics. Bokuto and Hinata were the other two wing-spikers, and Tsukishima the second middle blocker.  _

_ The team quickly became famous among the volleyball world, but not just for their range of tactics that stunned most opposing teams. Kuroo and Bokuto, never ones to hide their love, were openly dating since the very beginning and were obnoxiously public about it, usually ending every match with over-exaggerated displays of affection. Yet, everyone loved them.  _

_ After a few years, the other two couples on the team decided to make the volleyball world even more interesting, announcing their relationships too. Akaashi and Tsukishima shocked everyone the most, both reserved and seemingly solitary, whereas everyone had already made their guesses about Kageyama and Hinata. The two were confused, having thought they’d been discrete, and all their teammates could say was that every time they played, it was obvious how much more in tune they were with each other than anyone else.  _

_ (Tsukishima tacked on that it didn’t help that in interviews Hinata would non-stop praise Kageyama and proudly tell everyone that he was  _ **_his_ ** _ setter.) _

_ Even after they had all retired, the Kuroo Tetsurou-led team continued to be famous, and would always be referred to as the volleyball lovebirds.  _

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> hope you liked it. you can find me at ioeb55 on twitter! :D


End file.
